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Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Qatar, in a bid to fend off a possible move to deprive it of
the right to host the 2022 World Cup because of its failure to adopt
international standards for foreign workers, is drafting a charter for laborers
involved in the construction of infrastructure related to the tournament.

The announcement of the planned charter by the Qatar 2022
Supreme Committee comes amid a rare series of articles in Qatari media
depicting workers’ difficulties and a call to offer laborers relief in part
through sports.

It further follows a rare news conference in the Qatari
capital Doha by Human Rights Watch in which it charged that the Gulf state had
failed to live up to its promise to address the fundamental rights of foreign
workers who account for about a third of the population in a country in which
non-nationals are the majority as well as condemnatory statements by
international trade union leaders.

"We are currently in the final stages of drafting a
migrant worker charter that will be implemented on all tournament-related
projects. Our aim is for this charter to be completed and in place by the end
of the first quarter of 2013. We have actively sought out concrete suggestions
on best practices and are evaluating how those can be accomplished,” Qatar’s
state-owned Al Jazeera television network quoted a committee statement as saying.

Details of the planned charter were not immediately
available. Nevertheless, while the charter is likely to involve improvements of
the conditions of foreign workers, it is unlikely to satisfy demands by trade
unions and human rights groups. For one, the committee’s authority does not
stretch beyond issues involved in hosting the World Cup. As a result, it would
only effect workers involved in World Cup-related projects unless it were to be
adopted by the ministry of labor.

Qatar has so far moved to enforce safety, security and
health standards and improve living conditions, but has stopped short of
meeting demands for a lifting of its sponsorship system that makes workers
dependent on their employer and deprives them of their freedom of movement and ability
to freely change jobs. It has also shied away from endorsing calls for the
right to form independent trade unions and engage in collective bargaining.
Qatari press reports said that the Cabinet had this week reviewed proposed new safety
regulations for workers.

In a possible breakthrough, labor minister Sultan bin Hassan
advised International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) secretary general Sharan
Burrow last November that Qatar would not penalize workers who formed or joined
an independent union. The ITUC with 175 million members in 153 countries has
said it would put the minister’s words to the test later this year. It has
threatened to launch a boycott campaign against the World Cup if Qatar fails to
meet international labor standards.

The planned charter, the improvement in material conditions
and the domestic debate all illustrate that the trade unions and human rights
groups have gained leverage with Qatar’s winning in December 2010 of the right
to host the World Cup and are having an impact even if the response so far
fails to address the structural and fundamental issues they have raised.

The pressure on Qatar is in advance of an expected influx of
up to one million additional workers to complete massive infrastructure
projects many of which are unrelated to the World Cup although likely to
benefit it. In addition, projections predict that construction costs in the
coming years are likely to rise substantially.

Nevertheless, labor issues that in the past remained
unspoken of because they either risked opening the Pandora’s box of foreigners
seeing their presence in Qatar as more than temporary or shed the Gulf state in
a bad light are being publicly discussed.

A series of articles in The Peninsula, a Qatari
English-language newspaper, portrayed various aspects of the lives of migrant
workers, including informal self-organized money pools that constitute a
rudimentary social security system for workers and the lack of entertainment
and relaxation opportunities as well as access to the Internet. Qatar
University sociologist Kaltham Al Al-Ghanim noted that unskilled foreign
workers were not included in the country’s National Strategy for Social
Security (2011-16). “Isolating these large sections of our population can make
them vulnerable to crime. They can be a challenge to social security,” she
said.

The newspaper noted that the lack of free-time opportunities
had sparked the illegal sale of pirated CDs at Doha’s Al Ghanim bus station
were workers congregate on Fridays, their day off, because there aree no
facilities in the Industrial Zone where there camps are located. Qatar’s
foremost pastime, a visit to the mall or a park, is often off limits because
the conservative state seeks to limit entry of single men. To address the
issue, Qatar is building in the Industrial Zone an entertainment and commercial
center for foreign workers as well as a sports facility.

In a break with the past, Ms. Al-Ghanim, called on the
country’s sports clubs to set up branches in the Industrial Zone “to channel
their energy to productive avenues and hunt for sporting talent.” Sports clubs
in Qatar and elsewhere in the Gulf have largely targeted local nationals rather
than foreigners for fear that identification with a sports club would give them
a more permanent sense of belonging. The approach is one reason why stadiums in
the region are relatively empty during matches.

Ms. Al-Ghanim cautioned that if foreign workers were allowed
to “live on the social fringes, the danger is they would take to illegal
activities and emerge as a threat to social security.” She said the need to
engage them socially was enhanced by the fact that many of them were unmarried
or in Qatar without their families.

James M. Dorsey is
a senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies,
co-director of the University of Wuerzburg’s Institute for Fan Culture, and the
author of The Turbulent
World of Middle East Soccer blog.

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About Me

James M DorseyWelcome to The Turbulent World of Middle East Soccer by James M. Dorsey, a senior fellow at Nanyang Technological University’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies. Soccer in the Middle East and North Africa is played as much on as off the pitch. Stadiums are a symbol of the battle for political freedom; economic opportunity; ethnic, religious and national identity; and gender rights. Alongside the mosque, the stadium was until the Arab revolt erupted in late 2010 the only alternative public space for venting pent-up anger and frustration. It was the training ground in countries like Egypt and Tunisia where militant fans prepared for a day in which their organization and street battle experience would serve them in the showdown with autocratic rulers. Soccer has its own unique thrill – a high-stakes game of cat and mouse between militants and security forces and a struggle for a trophy grander than the FIFA World Cup: the future of a region. This blog explores the role of soccer at a time of transition from autocratic rule to a more open society. It also features James’s daily political comment on the region’s developments. Contact: incoherentblog@gmail.comView my complete profile